Board Certified
by CBGirl
Summary: One shot. Jo goes to take her oral board exam. (sorry I'm no good at summaries and not very creative with titles.)


**Disclaimer: I don't own Grey's Anatomy or any characters.**

Board Certified

Alex woke up to a still dark bedroom. He reached over next to him for Jo but only felt the cool sheets beneath his fingers. He sleepily reached over to the bedside table and grabbed his phone looking at the time. It read 3:48. He sat up and tried to rub the sleep from his eyes. _Where the hell is Jo?_ He thought to himself and in that same moment he heard the faint whistle of the teapot coming from the kitchen. _Why is she up? What's wrong?_ Alex thought as he got up out of bed and stretched.

When Alex padded into the kitchen yawning and squinting against the light, he found Jo at the bar hunched over a book. "What are you doing?" he questioned.

"Oh, Alex, I'm sorry. Did I wake you?" Jo replied quietly looking up at him apologetically.

"No, you didn't wake me up, but what are you doing up? You have to be on a plane in less than four hours. You should be sleeping…" he closed her book, "not studying," he took her mug of tea from her hands. "You know this stuff Jo. You don't have anything to worry about."

If you would have asked Jo in the months and weeks leading up to this day she would have agreed with him. She had felt confident that she would pass her oral boards with no problem. She felt good with the material she had been studying and she had always done well on tests, but in the last couple of days she wasn't so sure. "I thought so too, but now I don't know. I'm kind of freaking out," Jo admitted to Alex.

Alex recognized the look of fear and anxiety in Jo's eyes. "Hey, hey, don't worry about it. You are going to be awesome. You know this stuff. You need to get some sleep." Alex tried to calm her nerves pulling her into a soft hug and then leading her back to bed. He tucked her in and then crawled into bed beside her. Alex rubbed soothing circles on Jo's back and held her close. "You are a great surgeon Jo. You've got this," he murmured into her hair and continued rubbing until he felt her relax into his embrace.

The next morning Alex and Jo drove into work separately. Alex had an early surgery and Jo had to be there later to catch a shuttle to the airport with the other residents that would be taking their oral board exam. Just as Jo, Stephanie, and Ben were about to get on the van Alex jogged up and grabbed Jo's hand. "Hey. I'm glad I caught you," he breathed out squeezing the hand he held in his. "Don't sweat this exam Jo, and don't freak yourself out. You are awesome. You are an amazing doctor. You are going to kick ass," he spoke confidently looking Jo straight in the eyes.

"Thank you, Alex," Jo whispered squeezing his hand and smiling softly into his eyes. "I needed to hear that again." They shared a brief kiss and then Jo boarded the van with the others. She waved out the window at Alex who gave her a thumb's up back.

During the exam Jo didn't know how to feel. She was confident in the answers she gave but she got absolutely no feedback one way or the other from the examiner. She couldn't read him at all. He just monotonously asked the questions jotting down notes here and there with no expression on his face at all. Jo figured they were not supposed to give you any kind of feedback but she wished she could read something in his face. She walked out of the room with no real feeling of how she had done.

When Jo met up with the other two doctors after they had all finished their exams Stephanie looked as freaked out as she felt but Ben looked pretty happy. "So…how did it go?" Jo questioned tentatively.

"I bombed it," Stephanie whined looking like she was going to cry or hurl or both.

Jo patted her on the back, "I'm sure it wasn't that bad," she tried to reassure her.

"No, no, it was," Stephanie answered back. "I kept stopping and restarting and stuttering. It was awful. I don't stutter. What about you guys?"

Ben grinned, "I feel really good about it. I think I did awesome." They both turned their gazes to Jo questioningly.

"I just don't know either way," Jo answered their looks with a tortured cry. "I don't know what to think. I felt pretty good about my answers but I'm just not sure. The guy just sat there with a scowl on his face from the minute I stepped foot into the room."

"I'm sure you both did fine," Ben encouraged. "Now, let's go get a drink to calm down and forget before we get on the flight home." The girls readily agreed to that plan.

On the plane back to Seattle the three hopeful doctors discussed the questions they had and how they had responded. When the plane touched down and they loaded into the van that would take them back to the hospital they were all three pretty talked out. Just as they were pulling away Stephanie's phone chimed with a new email. "Guys, I passed!" she squealed staring down at the message on her phone.

Jo and Ben whooped and high fived Stephanie and then grabbed their phones to check their own emails. "Nothing," they both sighed impatiently.

"Oh wait, here's mine," Ben stated excitedly quickly scanning the message, "I did it! I passed!" More whooping and high fives were shared. Stephanie and Ben looked over at Jo expectantly.

"Still nothing," she groaned in response refreshing her email over and over again.

As Ben and Stephanie chattered happily the rest of the way back to GSMH Jo kept checking her email every few minutes and became more and more anxious. Ben had of course called Bailey with the good news so when they pulled up to the hospital she and several other attendings were waiting for the residents. Ben and Stephanie hurried off the van to hugs and congratulations meanwhile Jo hung her head and slowly climbed out. She glanced around for the only person she really wanted to see. _Alex didn't even come to greet me. Nice,_ Jo thought as she hurried off to her car.

"Hey, Jo, I'm sure you will get an email any minute," Ben called after her.

"Yeah, we all know you passed," Stephanie agreed encouragingly.

Jo just waved to them dismissively fighting back tears. She checked her email again when she made it safely to her car. Nothing. She tossed the phone into her purse just knowing that the reason she hadn't gotten an email was because she didn't pass. She sat in the driver's seat for a minute collecting herself. Now that she thought about it she was glad Alex hadn't been there. She didn't want to see the disappointment in his eyes when she told him she didn't pass and she sure didn't want to break down in tears in front of the whole hospital. Because she knew that as soon as she saw Alex she would break down. Taking a deep breath, she finally started the car and headed home. All she wanted to do was take a hot shower and forget about this awful day. Not that she would be able to forget. She would be reminded of her failure every day at work if she even still had a job.

Jo pulled into the driveway next to Alex's car realizing now that of course he hadn't been waiting for her he was already home. She gathered up her courage to face him really dreading having to disappoint him and tell him she hadn't passed her exam.

Having seen Jo's headlights flash in the living room window, Alex grabbed a couple of beers and went to greet her at the door. He was ready to celebrate because he just knew she aced her boards. "Hey," he grinned when she walked in, "congrat…"

"Don't." Jo commanded grabbing the beer out of his hand and heading straight upstairs. She downed the beer in just a few gulps on her way to the shower. When she stepped into the shower and felt the hot water washing over her she finally gave in to the tears letting them run down her face mixing with the water.

"What just happened?" Alex muttered quietly to himself. He walked over to pick Jo's purse up off the floor where she had dropped it and close the front door. When he dropped her purse on the couch her phone fell out and chimed the arrival of a new email at the same time. He glanced at the screen seeing that it was from the American Board of Surgery. He clicked on the message to read it and his face broke out into a huge grin. "I knew it!" he exclaimed. Alex went to the kitchen and grabbed another beer, again ready to celebrate. He went upstairs in search of Jo. He paced around the bedroom waiting for her to get out of the shower. He didn't want to barge into the bathroom and scare her.

Finally, the water shut off and a few minutes later Jo emerged from the steamy bathroom wrapped in a towel with another one around her hair her eyes puffy from crying. "Congratulations! You are now a board certified surgeon!" Alex exclaimed holding out her phone to her.

Jo took the phone shocked. She had convinced herself she had failed. She stared at the screen reading and rereading the message. After a minute or so she looked up at Alex and a grin spread across her face. "I did it?"

"You did! I told you you would kick ass. You are an awesome surgeon!" Alex assured her with a sparkle in his eyes. They shared a few kisses and toasted with their beers. Jo didn't think she had ever been this happy. She couldn't believe it, everything she had worked so hard for was really happening and she had an amazing man beside her supporting her too. It was more than she had ever hoped to dream for.

After they had both settled down a little bit Alex sat down on the bed while Jo began her bedtime routine. "So what was that all about when you came home?" Alex asked curiously not realizing the other two residents had already gotten their emails and knew they had passed so Jo was sure she had failed since she hadn't heard anything.

"Oh that was nothing. Just a long day I guess," Jo replied sheepishly not looking at Alex. She was embarrassed she had let herself freak out so much for no reason. She really had had no reason to believe she didn't pass.

"Uh huh, okay," Alex said not believing her but not wanting to push the issue. She seemed fine now so he would let it go.

Jo finished up and crawled in bed to wait for Alex who had gotten up to brush his teeth and get ready for bed himself. While she was waiting Jo sent a quick text to Ben and Stephanie letting them know the good news and thanking them for their encouraging words. She dropped her phone on the bedside table and turned out her lamp when Alex got in bed beside her. She reached out for him and whispered seductively running a finger down his bare chest, "have you ever shared a bed with a board certified surgeon before?" Jo then started to kiss Alex's neck but interrupted herself quickly, "on second thought, don't answer that." Alex just smirked at Jo in return before grabbing ahold of her waist and rolling her over underneath him. They spent the rest of the night celebrating Jo's accomplishment.


End file.
